Master Class: Stop-Motion Animation with Brad Schiff From LAIKA Studios takes place Saturday November 9th at 2:00pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. This is a FREE eventthat will take place at the Sverdrup Complex 123 on the campus of Webster University ( 8300 Big Bend Boulevard, 63119). Read a 2014 We Are Movie Geeks interview with Brad Schiff HERE. Brad will also host a FREE screening of the LAIKA Studios film MISSING LINK at The Missouri History Museum at 11am November 9th
Native St. Louisan Brad Schiff is an Oscar nominee for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for “Kubo and the Two Strings” and one of this year’s Cinema St. Louis Award honorees. He serves as the animation supervisor of LAIKA Studios, which specializes in stop-motion animation, a process that involves moving objects — e.g., puppets, models, or clay figures — in small increments, taking a photograph after each tiny change, and then assembling the individual images into a moving picture. LAIKA’s run of Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature include “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” “The Boxtrolls,” and “Kubo.” The studio’s most recent film, “Missing Link,” screens for free at this year’s SLIFF. Schiff made his first animated films in high school here in St. Louis and discovered stop-motion animation in college, when he developed a passion for the form. His career encompasses television (“Celebrity Deathmatch,” “The PJs,” “Gary and Mike”) and commercials, and he’s worked on such non-LAIKA stop-motion-animated films as Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” and Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Isle of Dogs.”SLIFF Special Event
LAIKA, the award-winning animation studio nestled in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, celebrates 10 years of bold and memorable filmmaking this month. For a company whose name means “little barker” in Russian, Portland, Oregon-based LAIKA has made quite a noise in the global film industry over a relatively short time.
With its world-class filmmaking team, LAIKA pushes the boundaries of family entertainment and animated movies, redefining what stories can and should be told through the art form.
“When LAIKA began we had a simple goal: to make movies that matter,” says Travis Knight, LAIKA’s President and CEO, who also is lead animator and a producer on its films. “LAIKA is devoted to telling new and original stories in new and original ways.”
“We aspire to make films that are bold, distinctive, and enduring,” Knight continues. “We are committed to telling stories that are thematically challenging, aesthetically beautiful, emotionally resonant, and a wee bit subversive. By combining stop-motion animation with cutting-edge creative approaches, we’ve embraced the fusion of art and craft and technology, honoring tradition while looking toward the future. We invented new systems and technologies for liberating the camera, to make our films more cinematic. We created new techniques for building and animating our puppets, to make our characters more lifelike and to connect more immediately and intimately with audiences. We discovered new processes for integrating practical and digital visual effects, to make our worlds more authentic. But we’re never satisfied. There’s an inherent restlessness at LAIKA. We always want to challenge ourselves.”
LAIKA began its unconventional cinematic journey with Coraline in 2009, continuing with ParaNorman in 2012 and The Boxtrolls in 2014. All three films featured LAIKA’s unique and innovative 3D stop-motion and CG hybrid technique. LAIKA’s original distribution partners, Focus Features and Universal Pictures International, remain the studio’s collaborators to this day. “We have the bravest distributors in the world,” says Knight. “They are lionhearted souls who took a chance on a ragged band of misfits from Oregon. Together, we share an abiding love for original stories and inventive storytelling.”
In addition to numerous critics’ awards and multiple Annie Awards (the animation community’s Oscars equivalent), all three of LAIKA’s feature films have been nominated for Academy Awards, BAFTA, and PGA Awards. The Boxtrolls also received a Golden Globe nomination; ParaNorman was cited as the year’s best animated feature by more critics’ groups than any other film in 2012, and Coraline was named one of the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Films of the year. “These last ten years have been magical,” says Knight. “But as I look forward, I’m more excited for what the future holds. We’re just getting warmed up.”
Knight, who makes his directorial debut with LAIKA’s next film, Kubo and the Two Strings (release date: August 19, 2016) adds, “Stripping everything else away, we’re simple storytellers. We’re the heirs of flamboyant stage magicians, plainspoken raconteurs spinning yarns around a campfire, and knuckle-dragging troglodytes scrawling stick figures on a cave wall. We believe telling stories is one of the prime functions of the human mind and spirit. A good story can elicit empathy, opening us up to new possibilities, to new ways of thinking, to recognizing the shared humanity in which we all participate. And, in the end, that’s ultimately LAIKA’s reason for being.”
LAIKA FILMOGRAPHY
Coraline (Release Date: February 6, 2009) Combining the visionary imaginations of two premier fantasists, director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and author Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Coraline is a wondrous and thrilling, fun and suspenseful adventure and the first stop motion film ever to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3-D, unlike anything moviegoers had ever experienced before. In Coraline, a young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home and save her family.
Voice Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., and Ian McShane. Produced by Bill Mechanic, Claire Jennings, Henry Selick, Mary Sandell. Based on the book by Neil Gaiman. Written for the Screen and Directed by Henry Selick.
ParaNorman (Release Date: August 17, 2012)
In the comedy thriller, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman, who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul-whisperer bravely summons up all that makes a hero – courage and compassion – as he finds his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.
Voice Cast:Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, and John Goodman. Produced by Arianne Sutner, Travis Knight. Written by Chris Butler. Directed by Sam Fell, Chris Butler.
The Boxtrolls (Release Date: September 26, 2014)
This comedic fable unfolds in Cheesebridge, a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class, and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. Beneath its charming cobblestone streets dwell the Boxtrolls, foul monsters who crawl out of the sewers at night and steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least, that’s the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of quirky and lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The Boxtrolls have raised an orphaned human boy, Eggs since infancy as one of their dumpster-diving and mechanical junk-collecting own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by villainous pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher, who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge society, the kindhearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and adventurous rich girl Winnie to bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change – and cheese.
Voice Cast: Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan, and Simon Pegg. Produced by David Bleiman Ichioka, Travis Knight. Screenplay by Irena Brignull, Adam Pava. Based on the book Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow. Directed by Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable.
Kubo and the Two Strings (Release date: August 19, 2016)
Kubo and the Two Strings is an epic action-adventure set in a fantastical Japan from acclaimed animation studio LAIKA, the film follows clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson of Game of Thrones) ekes out a humble living, telling stories to the people of his seaside town including Hosato (George Takei), Hashi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and Kamekichi (Academy Award nominee Brenda Vaccaro). But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award winner Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his shamisen – a magical musical instrument – Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King (Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara) to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family and fulfill his heroic destiny.
Voice Cast: Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes, Art Parkinson, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro. Screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Produced by Arianne Sutner, Travis Knight. Directed by Travis Knight.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman July 16th, 2014
A native St. Louisan, Brad Schiff serves as the animation supervisor at LAIKA Studios, the award-winning company behind “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” and the upcoming “The Boxtrolls.” Before making his creative contributions to LAIKA’s films, Brad cut his teeth on a number of popular American television series, including MTV’s “Celebrity Deathmatch,” “The PJs,” and “Gary & Mike.” In 2001, Brad brought home a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on “Gary & Mike.” Brad’s commercial-directing clients have included the NFL on Fox, Nintendo, and Samsung. In 2004, Brad worked as an animator on Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride,” the first of what has turned out to be a series of Academy Award-nominated features that includes Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Although Brad’s busy schedule only allows a hometown visit once a year or so, when in St. Louis he always indulges in pizza from Imo’s and a “famous roast beef sandwich” from Lion’s Choice – he calls both “a must.” If he’s here in the summer, Brad is certain to catch a Cards game at Busch Stadium; if he’s here in winter, he journeys to Savvis Center to root for the Blues.
Brad will be in St. Louis on Saturday August 2nd, for a program called Behind the Scenes with Brad Schiff, Supervising Animator at LAIKA Studios. There will be a screening of PARANORMAN, followed by a Q&A with Brad.This is part of the second annual SLIFF/Kids Film Festival put on by Cinema St. Louis. The event will be at COCA – Center of Creative Arts located at 524 Trinity Avenue in University City. The program begins at 7pm.
For more details about the SLIFF/Kids film fest, visit Cinema St. Louis‘ site HERE
We Are Movie Geeks caught up with Brad Schiff to discuss his films, his future projects, and his upcoming event in St. Louis.
We Are Movie Geeks: So you’re from St. Louis, right?
Brad Schiff: Yes I grew up in Clayton and then I moved out to Town and Country. I went to Parkway West High School where I graduated in 1988.
WAMG: When you grew up in St. Louis, were you a fan of stop motion animation?
BS: I always really dug stop motion animation but I don’t know if I realized it was stop motion animation at the time. I always loved KING KONG. I think the most poignant one for me was CLASH OF THE TITANS. I used to make little stop motion with my friends with G.I. Joes and stuff but never with any intent of doing that for a living.
WAMG: We did a Ray Harryhausen tribute at St. Louis International Film Festival last year.
BS: Cool. What did you show?
WAMG: We showed a new documentary called RAY HARRYHAUSEN SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN and then we also showed THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD.
BS: Yeah, Ray Harryhausen came to visit the studio when we were working on THE CORPSE BRIDE. That was back in 2004.
WAMG: What are the key differences between what Ray Harryhausen was doing and what you were doing on a project like PARANORMAN?
BS: Fundamentally it’s all the same. Everything we’re doing is the same. We have some technological cheats that he didn’t have. Things have advanced in so many ways. He would use gauges to mark like where the elbow was, where the top of the head is, where the wrist is, so he would know where to move it every time. What we have is Frame Grabber software so when you get to say, frame 100, you can see your last 100 frames as well as your current frame. You can see exactly where you’ve been and where you are. You just toggle back-and-forth so you can see your previous image and your live image.
WAMG: I guess Harryhausen couldn’t really check his work until the film came back from the lab.
BS: It’s amazing! It blows my mind sometimes. We make mistakes even looking at it. You’ll get a few frames past and then you will think “Oh shucks, I forgot to move the wrist”. So then you have to delete a couple of frames. So that’s a luxury. You can actually cut back. You can delete frames as long as you can get to a place where you could match your puppet back up.
WAMG: How did you end up being a stop motion animator? Where you an artist as a kid?
BS: Yes I was. My grandfather was a master woodcarver and I used to sculpt and play down in his studio in New Orleans. I took every art class I could. Then I went to college at Central Missouri State and majored in art. I was also playing rugby at the time. My instructor recommended that I drop drawing classes. To this day I can’t figure out why. My stuff wasn’t the best in the class but it wasn’t the worst either. The only thing I can think of is that maybe he was trying to light a fire under my ass. At one point I didn’t want to have anything to do with art anymore because I became really self-conscious about my drawing ability. I had a buddy who was going to school down in Florida and he was taking these animation classes at the University of Tampa. He couldn’t draw either but he had this instructor named Richard Protovin who did these beautiful watercolor animations and his philosophy was that you don’t have to draw great to animate great. There was something about it I just found it intriguing. So I transferred colleges. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to graduate with a business degree. When I was down there, I discovered I had the ability to sculpt and it became evident that stop motion animation was what I wanted to do. My sculpting looked good but I couldn’t animate very well. I was just transferring some of my old college films from VHS the other day and it’s a miracle I’m even in the business right now.
WAMG: Where those shot on film?
BS: No the stuff down in Tampa was shot on a three-quarter inch machine that kind of did frame-by-frame.
WAMG: Did you grow up a fan of monster movies?
BS: Yes, I loved the monster movies. I loved cartoons though more than anything. I loved Looney Tunes and I loved Scooby Doo. I would come home from school, pour a bowl of cereal and watch He-Man and G.I. Joe cartoons. I couldn’t get enough cartoons.
WAMG: It seems like stop motion has made something of a comeback over the past few years. What do you attribute that to?
BS: There’s been a huge resurgence to it, that’s true.It really started bubbling with NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and then with JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. The mecca for stop motion animation and that time was San Francisco. There was a show on ABC called Bump in the Night. And then Disney bought ABC and shut down anything that wasn’t a Disney show. Then about three years later, around 1998, Celebrity Death Match came around, and The PJs, and Gary and Mike. There was that little wave. There was not a whole lot going on in Los Angeles, it was all happening in New York and Portland. Then in 2004 we did CORPSE BRIDE and around that time Aardmann animation started to break through with Wallace and Gromit. Of course CG came about as well and CG developed its own look but stop motion was something a little bit different, a little bit tactile, just inherently I think because you’re making it by hand. I think there’s an inherent charm that goes along with it.
WAMG: When Tim Burton made MARS ATTACKS in 1996 I remember reading that he wanted to use stop motion but he decided to make CGI that would look like stop-motion. But then he went back later, with CORPSE BRIDE and FRANKENWEENIE, to stop-motion.
BS: Yes, there were a couple of us that work here, myself included, that were hired to work on MARS ATTACKS. This was before I was out of school at NYU. My friend Georgina Hayes here at LAIKA, she was hired to work on MARS ATTACKS. And around that time production shut down. I think someone was doing a CG test of the Martians. Somebody got a model and took it to ILM and they did a great job with the characters from that film. So yes, Tim wanted to do CGI that looked like stop motion and it didn’t quite look like stop motion. Even to this day as we move forward, especially here at LAIKA,, I feel like we’re pushing the medium forward in a way that nobody has yet. People may always think that it’s CG. And I think that’s a huge compliment. And you’ll even hear people like Tim Burton say that CG just doesn’t have that stop-motion look, and I don’t know just what that means. Does that mean it has to be sort of rough and raw? I don’t think so. That’s like saying all CG has to look like ANTS or A BUG’S LIFE.
WAMG: I know what you’re saying. I get confused. Even when I saw the trailer for BOXTOLLS I thought “Oh here we go – here’s a CGI that’s trying to look like stop-motion”. Even when I saw PARANORMAN at the theater I wasn’t sure what I was watching, at least until the very end. Didn’t they bring out one of the armatures?
BS: Yes during the end credits. We always have a little surprise during the end credits.
WAMG: Was CORPSE BRIDE made over here or was it made over in England?
BS: It was made in London.CORPSE BRIDE was the first in this awesome run of feature films that I’ve been able to work on.
WAMG: About a year ago I interviewed Mark Waring (Animation Director on FRANKENWEENIE – read the interviewHERE).
BS: Oh yeah, I lived with Mark Waring when I was over there!
WAMG: How many animators would work on a project like PARANORMAN?
BS: We start off with a team of 22 and it will grow if we get behind schedule, or for that final push we may need a few more bodies, I think we got up to 30 on PARANORMAN. On BOXTROLLS we started with a team of 24 and we grew to 30. Every animator is responsible for a quota of 4.3 seconds per week.
WAMG: I see, but aren’t some scenes more elaborate and difficult than others?
BS: Oh yes, some are incredibly complicated. We had an animator on BOXTROLLS that was animating a dance sequence . We had choreographers come in and you had to mimic and learn every move of a dance. It’s always easier to animate what you know, but it’s very difficult to animate that type of dance sequence with multiple characters. The more characters you have, the more difficult it is. The more difficult the action, the choreography, the longer it takes. If you had just one medium shot of a puppet maybe you could knock out eight seconds in a week.
WAMG: You’ve worked with Wes Anderson (on FANTASTIC MR. FOX) and Tim Burton. What are those guys like when directing animated films? Are they hands on?
BS: Well, Tim co-directed CORPSE BRIDE with a guy named Mike Johnson. And on FRANKENWEENIE, which I did not work on, Tim co-directed with a friend of mine named Trey Thomas, who’s kind of a stop-motion legend. On FRANKENWEENIE, Trey Thomas did sort of the same thing that Mike Johnson did when he was co-director. They directed the day-to-day operations and they would send the stuff to Tim every week. And Tim would come in to the studio maybe every two weeks, and go through the dailies and stuff but he didn’t, on CORPSE BRIDE, really direct the animators personally. It was usually Mike Johnson. But Tim would come through and he was friendly with the crew. Everybody knew him but he didn’t do the day-to-day stuff. I think he was working on ALICE IN WONDERLAND about the same time we were shooting CORPSE BRIDE so he was consumed mostly with his live-action stuff. Working with Wes Anderson was a whole different experience altogether. That was a weird way to make a movie. We were making FANTASTIC MR. FOX in London and Wes was in Paris, yet though he was in Paris he was very hands-on. We corresponded through vmail with him. He would send a reference video of himself. He would send live-action videos of himself acting out every character and they would edit those together so you would have six of Wes on the screen, each acting slightly different. One as Kristofferson, one as Mr. Fox, one as Ash. It was pretty funny. I had really good interaction with him. I did the Whackbat sequence. I was able to sit down with Wes and we talked about things like the rules of the game. It was really just a couple of sentences that he had written in the script so I proposed a bunch of ideas and different actions, how the action would work with the pitch, and he and I worked on different things that he wanted to see, and that was really cool! He was really fun to work with even though it was an odd way to work.
WAMG: Let’s talk about BOXTROLLS Have you seen the finished film yet?
BS: I have not! Do you believe it? I have seen all of the sequences because we are able to see all of the sequences on our database, but I have not seen it in one long run.
WAMG: Is BOXTROLLS 100% stop motion?
BS: All of the primary stuff is stop-motion. All of the main characters are stop-motion, but one of the limitations of the medium is how big you can make your sets and how many puppets you can actually have somebody animate out on set. We have used a lot of visual effects to make our world bigger. Sometimes we put up a green screen and do set extensions, which has made the world seem much larger. We’ll do digi-double box trolls or digital crowd characters, so there are scenes in the film where you’ll see dozens of Boxtrolls, but maybe six of them are practical and the rest are effects. There’s a shot in all of the teasers that we have done, it’s kind of a medium close-up of maybe 10 Boxtrolls and they’re all clapping their box. Three of those are practical and you cannot tell the difference. One of the reasons you cannot tell the difference is that all of our visual effects are informed by practical elements, so you’re not just making up a texture. You are looking at a real texture and they’re copying the texture and you’re looking at the real paint jobs of the puppets, so they’re copying the paint jobs of the puppets. So everything is informed. Even in PARANORMAN, the clouds looked like a bridal veil. That was a running theme, a running design element through the film, and we did some practical tests on stage early on, rotating it around. Our rigging department, lead by Ollie Jones, made this rig that you can spin but what you couldn’t get from it was the vaporous feeling of clouds. But the effects department was able to take those practical elements and practical tests and copy them, make models of the tools, just like the practical element, and they were able to manipulated in ways in the computer that we couldn’t do out on stage.
WAMG: So what is the next big project you are going to be working on?
BS: I’m working on something, but I can’t tell you much about it right now. Sorry! We are six shots in the can but it’s still under wraps. I think the studio is still trying to make a deal with the distributor for the next bunch of films so there will probably a big media splash soon.
WAMG: On August 2nd you were going to be here in St. Louis at COCA. They are showing PARANORMAN, then you are speaking. Are you bringing some of your puppets with you?
BS: Yes I’ll have a couple of puppets with me. I think I’m going to get up before the film and say a few words, then will have a screening of PARANORMAN, and then will have a Q&A. I hope a lot of people stick around. I’ll have a Norman with me and I hope to have a Boxtroll with me, so I’ll have a few of the puppets that people can come and take a look at.
WAMG: Well, good luck with BOXTOLLS and all of your future projects and I hope you have a great time when you’re back in St. Louis.
Animation buffs, movie fans, and memorabilia collectors will all have the chance to own unique hand-crafted materials from one of this year’s Academy Award nominees when Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California next week begins hosting the online auction of two props used in LAIKA and Focus Features’ comedy thrillerParaNorman, which is Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.
The internet auction is coordinated through Profiles in History, the world’s largest auctioneer of original Hollywood Memorabilia,www.profilesinhistory.com, and will begin on Friday, February 22nd and will end Monday, March 4th. Proceeds from the auction will go to help inspire hope, enrich lives and build a better future for children with special needs in Southern California.
Including a letter of authenticity from LAIKA’s studios in Oregon, where the stop-motion-animated feature was lovingly hand-crafted on-site, the auction lot is for two props that were made in-studio and then featured on-screen; in the film’s story, the town of Blithe Hollow, where ParaNorman’s 11-year-old hero Norman Babcock lives with his family, commissioned a historical plaque commemorating the famous capture of a witch from 300 years ago, along with the accompanying mold “cast” of the witch’s head. In the frightfully funny, magically emotional, and hilariously spooky ParaNorman, the revelation comes that the centuries-old witch’s curse is real and is about to come true – and only Norman will be able to stop it from going into overdrive and harming the townspeople, by summoning up courage and compassion in a wild race against time.
In addition to its Academy Award nomination, ParaNorman has won two Annie Awards (the animation community’s Oscars equivalent) and been cited as best animated feature film by 14 critics’ groups, more than any other 2012 animated feature. ParaNorman was directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler from an original screenplay by Mr. Butler; and was produced by Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner.
Elizabeth O’Neil, Executive Director of Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California, said, “The movies that LAIKA and Focus have made together have thrilled and delighted millions. With its anti-bullying theme, ParaNorman has proved particularly impactful for kids. We’re so pleased that beautifully detailed and painstakingly created props from this wondrous tale will now be offered for auction to benefit children in need in our community.”
THEATRICAL TRAILER: the official theatrical piece, usually cut from the first (very long) cut of the picture or sometimes (if there is no first cut yet) from dailies (all the shot footage, including all the different takes and angles), maximum length of a trailer is two and a half minutes.
TEASER TRAILER: A first, short theatrical preview piece (usually not longer than a minute and a half), cut from a few selected takes and scenes while the picture is still being shot.
For those of you who think it’s okay to show up to a film after the coming attractions – move along. No self-respecting movie geek would dare miss the previews. And don’t get us started on the individuals who arrive during the trailer you’ve been dying to see only to move through your line of sight during the all-important money shot.
In most cases, trailers are the first thing the casual moviegoer sees of an upcoming release – be it next month or next year. But sometimes that’s all it takes to plant the enthusiastic seed of “I have to see that!” There’s no denying it. Trailers are visual forces of nature. They are emotional magnets. They are harbingers of things to come and herald what might be.
While not all of them turned out to be everyone’s cup of tea, the unsung heroes in the editing room behind these previews are what had us going to the theaters in 2012 in record numbers. Along with the official synopsis of each movie, below is a compilation of some of the best trailers from this past year. So get your drink & munchies, have the volume up & the lights down low and find your favorite seat – the coming attractions are about to start.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions. “Welcome to the Bathtub!”
THE RAID: REDEMPTION
Deep in the heart of Jakarta’s slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world’s most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the rundown apartment block has been considered untouchable. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite swat team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, they find themselves stranded on the 6th floor with no way out. The unit must fight their way through the city’s worst to survive their mission
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L. Jackson, and written and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel Avengers Assemble” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
We were doing fine until Alec Baldwin, along with his Russian accent, proclaimed “it is our job to protect the children of the world – for as long as they believe in us, we will guard them with our lives.” Waterworks were pouring out. RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is an epic adventure that tells the story of a group of heroes – each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.
LES MISÉRABLES
Les Misérables is the motion-picture adaptation of the beloved global stage sensation seen by more than 60 million people in 42 countries and in 21 languages around the globe and still breaking box-office records everywhere in its 27th year. Helmed by The King’s Speech’s Academy Award®-winning director, Tom Hooper, the Working Title/Cameron Mackintosh production stars Hugh Jackman, Oscar® winner Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption – a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. Les Misérables, the show of shows, was reborn as the cinematic musical experience of a lifetime.
CLOUD ATLAS
CLOUD ATLAS explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. A lofty, gorgeous, trailer that boldly tugged at the heart-strings.
MEN IN BLACK 3
Agent Jay traveled back in time to 1969, where he teams up with a younger version of Agent Kay to stop an evil alien from destroying the future. The time-traveling, third installment of the Men in Black franchise reunited Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. The trailer was jam-packed with car chases and monocycle pursuits, as the famous, black-suited duo employed a brand-new collection of galactic gadgets to fight off retro aliens. Proves a successful and fun 3rd chapter to a franchise can be accomplished.
THE MASTER
Paul Thomas Anderson’s sixth feature film, THE MASTER, unfolds a vibrantly human story inside this atmosphere of spiritual yearning on the cusp of 1950. The film follows the shifting fortunes of Freddie, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, a volatile former Naval seaman unable to settle down into everyday life, and the unpredictable journey he takes when he stumbles upon a fledgling movement known as The Cause. Coming to The Cause as an itinerant and outsider, Freddie will ultimately become a surrogate heir to its flamboyant leader: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd. And yet, even as The Cause probes the mastery of human emotions, the camaraderie between Freddie and Dodd will mount into a fierce and intimate struggle of wills. The first feature film shot using 65mm film stock in several decades, THE MASTER is brought to life by a devoted cast and crew who have crafted a visually alluring and emotionally provocative portrait of three people pursuing a vision of betterment.
PROMETHEUS
Director Ridley Scott takes fans on a gripping sci-fi adventure that “kicks ass so hard and often that it’s impossible not to be thrilled by it.” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone).Archeologist couple Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Marshall-Green) discover a star map that they interpret as an invitation from humanity’s forerunners, the “Engineers.” Determined to find out more about them, the couple boards the scientific vessel Prometheus, created and funded by Peter Weyland (Pearce), CEO of Weyland Corporation. Lead by mission director Meredith Vickers (Theron) and monitored by Weyland’s android David (Fassbender), the team of explorers find a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth and embark on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe where they fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
A LOOPER GLOSSARY
Looper: A low level assassin who works for a mob in the future, killing targets they send back and disposing of the bodies.
Gat Man: A higher level gangster, the Gat men work locally with more typical thug responsibilities. They tend to look down on Loopers as a lot of untrained dandies.
Blunderbuss: A short stout hand cannon used by Loopers. Powerful but with a wide spread – impossible to hit anything more than 10 yards away, impossible to miss anything closer.
Gat: Generic term for a gun, but colloquial name for the Gat Men’s high caliber revolver. Powerful, accurate and reliable.
TK: Short for “telekinetic.” By 2040 a very low grade telekenetic power has developed in about 15% of the general population. Far from being a superpower, it’s weak and short range, and mostly used for bar tricks.
Closing Your Loop: A stipulation in every Looper’s contract that he may some day be required to kill his future self, thus closing his contract, getting a huge pay-off and erasing any trace of the very illegal arrangement with his future employer.
THE EXPENDABLES 2
The Expendables are back and this time it’s personal… Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - five tons of weapons-grade plutonium, far more than enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way..
THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS
Quentin Tarantino presents THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, an action-adventure inspired by kung-fu classics as interpreted by his longtime collaborators RZA and Eli Roth. Making his debut as a big-screen director, co-writer and leading man, RZA – alongside an exciting international cast led by Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu – tells the epic story of warriors, assassins and a lone outsider hero who all descend on one fabled village in China for a winner-takes-all battle for a fortune in gold. Blending astonishing martial-arts sequences from some of the masters of this world with the signature vision he brings as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop’s most dominant figures of the past two decades, RZA embarks upon his most ambitious, stylized and thrilling project to date.
Joining Crowe, RZA and Liu in the cast are Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, Cung Le, Dave Bautista, Byron Mann, Daniel Wu and Pam Grier.
THE GREY
Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Taken, Taken 2) stars as the unlikely hero Ottway in this undeniably suspenseful and powerful survival adventure. After their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness, a roughneck group of oil drillers are forced to find a way back to civilization. As Ottway leads the injured survivors through the brutal snow and ice, they are relentlessly tracked by a vicious pack of rogue wolves that will do anything to defend their territory. Adrenaline-fueled, action-packed and loaded with some of the most intense and brutally realistic attack scenes ever filmed, The Grey is being hailed as “a thriller you can sink your teeth into!” (The Washington Post)
SKYFALL
Stunts always play a large role in Bond films and SKYFALL is no exception. Director Sam Mendes, Second Unit Director Alexander Witt and Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell worked closely together to create a physical and believable journey for Bond. It was important for both Mendes and Powell to approach the film from a more realistic point of view. The action started on the pages. “Writing action sequences is one of the great challenges and the great joys of being a screenwriter,” says screenwriter John Logan. “The challenge as a writer on Skyfall was to find ways to make the action as ‘Bondian’ as possible – which to me means it’s tough, it’s real and it’s heightened.”
As you can see in this trailer, no actor had more stunts than Craig. Javier Bardem describes watching Craig take on the role: “There is some physicality to the role that you have to be prepared to do, but of course mine compared to Daniel’s was nothing. And he does the action scenes so easily “From the outside, watching him, I was thinking, If I were you, I wouldn’t be doing that!” Bardem laughs. “I mean, I did a little bit, but nothing in comparison to with what Daniel did.”
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
Not quite the lofty follow up to THE KING”S SPEECH as we had hoped, this preview had all the makings of finally giving Bill Murray that long-awaited Oscar. The end result was a stark look into the all-too-human side of one of history’s iconic leaders.
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA
“Hotel Transylvania is a story about a father and a daughter… it’s just that the father happens to be Dracula,” says Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the Sony Pictures Animation film, Hotel Transylvania. “Like all fathers, he’s an overprotective, psychotic, and endearing guy who’d do anything for his daughter, but unlike other fathers, he’s the Prince of Darkness.”
In Hotel Transylvania, it turns out that the world’s most famous monsters (including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Invisible Man, and the Mummy) are just like regular people, with families and problems and a need to get away from it all – but unlike humans, they have to live in hiding from a world that thinks they’re, well, monsters. What better place to hide than Hotel Transylvania, which Dracula himself operates as a sanctuary from the rest of the world and has been human-free since 1898? But Dracula has issues of his own – his daughter, Mavis, is a teenager – in fact, she’s about to turn 118 – and as she becomes a woman, the vampire’s greatest fear is losing his relationship with her. Well, his two greatest fears are losing his relationship with his daughter and garlic, but that’s another story.
DJANGO UNCHAINED
We were ready to go on another wild and wily trek with Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece DJANGO UNCHAINED. The trailer had us hooked right from the start – almost made us forget Franco Nero in Corbucci’s DJANGO (1966). “I like evoking the Django title for what it means to Spaghetti Westerns and that mythology,” Tarantino says. “At the same time, there’s a 40-film series of nonrelated DJANGO rip-off sequels that are their own spot of Spaghetti Western history. I’m proud to say that we are a new edition to the unrelated DJANGO rip-off sequels.”
THE RAVEN
The macabre and lurid tales of Edgar Allan Poe are vividly brought to life – and death — in this stylish, gothic thriller starring John Cusack as the infamous author. Boy were they ever. When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Poe’s darkest works, a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) joins forces with Poe in a quest to get inside the killer’s mind in order to stop him from making every one of Poe’s brutal stories a blood chilling reality. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, which escalates when Poe’s love (Alice Eve, She’s Out of My League) becomes the next target. Intrepid Pictures’ The Raven also stars Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Boy we couldn’t wait to return to the Shire. THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of ingenuity and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities… A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD stars Golden Globe Award winner Steve Carell and Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley. Set in a too-near future, the movie explores what people will do when humanity’s last days are at hand. As the respective journeys of Dodge (Carell) and Penny (Knightley) converge, the two spark to each other and their outlooks – if not the world’s – brighten. Director Lorene Scafaria had us in tears when the end finally came.
PARANORMAN
This is how you do a teaser! In August Laika, the makers of Coraline, brought us PARANORMAN, a stop motion, ghost-filled zombie comedy in 3D. The delightful movie starred the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Elaine Stritch, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jeff Garlin. “You don’t become a hero by being normal.” Amen to that brother!
TED
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane (as well as this year’s Oscar host) brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of TED. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since. The trailer has us skeptical until we saw the hilarious final product!
HITCHCOCK
HITCHCOCK is a love story about one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century, Alfred (Anthony Hopkins) Hitchcock and his wife and partner Alma Reville (Helen Mirren). The film takes place during the making of Hitchcock’s seminal movie PSYCHO. The trailer had us fascinated and left us wanting to see more once the film finally arrived in November.
MOONRISE KINGDOM
In a return to the world of Wes Anderson, MOONRISE KINGDOM was thought by some to be one of the best films this year. Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.
MAGIC MIKE
A dramatic comedy set in the world of male strippers, “Magic Mike” is directed by Academy Award® winner Steven Soderbergh (“Traffic”) and stars Channing Tatum in the title role. The film follows Mike as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. Also starring Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Mangianello, Olivia Munn, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Not to be confused with the Spielberg-ized version of the 16th President, filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Director of Wanted) brought audiences this edgy thriller about the untold story that shaped our nation. Abraham Lincoln, history’s greatest hunter of the undead, must risk the presidency, his family and his life to protect America from bloodthirsty vampires. Thrust into an epic fight against the ruthless killers, Lincoln must rely on those around him. But it’s unclear who he can trust in this intense and violent thriller that’s ablaze with plot twists, blood-pumping action and spectacular special effects!
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PT. 2
Okay so maybe it wasn’t anything you’d ever venture out to see – even on a dare – but you knew we had to show the trailer for the final TWILIGHT movie. The conclusion to the series, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN — PART 2, illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions of teenage girls – and sometimes their Moms.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
This wicked trailer was one of the best of 2012. Three dumb guys who think they’re smart rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the enforcer hired to track them down and restore order. KILLING THEM SOFTLY also features Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR), James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”), Ray Liotta (NARC), Scoot McNairy (MONSTERS), Ben Mendelsohn (ANIMAL KINGDOM), and Vincent Curatola (“The Sopranos”). Max Casella, Trevor Long, Slaine and Sam Shepard also make appearances.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
The Amazing Spider-Man focused on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story and starred Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.
THE SAPPHIRES
Inspired by a true story, THE SAPPHIRES follows four vivacious, young and talented Australian Aboriginal girls from a remote mission as they learn about love, friendship and war when their all girl group The Sapphires entertains the U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1968. Cynthia (Tapsell), Gail (Mailman), Julie (Mauboy) and Kay (Sebbens) are discovered by Dave (O’Dowd), a good-humored talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. As their manager, Dave books the sisters their first true gig giving them their first taste of stardom, and travels them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops. The film was shown at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November and was met by a cheering audience as the credits rolled. See this charming film!
MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED
Finally we leave you with Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe. Over the summer this fearless foursome were fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple and of course, King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins were all along for the comedic adventure. Their journey took them through Europe where they found the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvented – Madagascar style.
From great documentaries to sweet indies to big studio movies, 2012 was one of the biggest years ever. It will be remembered for the reinvention of musicals with Tom Hooper’s LES MISERABLES, the meet-and-greet of horrifying engineers in Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS and the toppling of an empire in Lauren Greenfield’s QUEEN OF VERSAILLES.
There was no shortage from which to choose from at your local cinemas where superheroes reigned supreme at the box office, animated adventures were welcomed by young and old alike, and favorite characters from the various prequels and sequels were embraced like old friends.
As we head into the new year, some of the most anticipated films of 2013 are Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL, J.J. Abrams’ STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, Shane Black’s IRON MAN 3, Marc Forster’s WORLD WAR Z, Dan Scanlon’s MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, Gore Verbinski’s THE LONE RANGER, Joseph Kosinski’s OBLIVION, M. Night Shyamalan’s AFTER EARTH, Guillermo del Toro’s PACIFIC RIM, James Mangold’s THE WOLVERINE, Neill Blomkamp’s ELYSIUM, Sam Raimi’s OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, Baz Luhrmann’s THE GREAT GATSBY, Kenneth Branagh’s JACK RYAN, Alfonso Cuarón’s GRAVITY and George Clooney’s THE MONUMENTS MEN.
In our look back at the year that was, WAMG has compiled our list of the ten best films of 2012.
Honorable Mention – SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is the second feature film from writer/director Martin McDonogh and the second to show his prowess with smart, dark comedic material. Once again enlisting Colin Farrell, McDonogh throws Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken into his alchemy and creates an unexpected yet very satisfying reaction. Much like Charlie Kaufman’s ADAPTATION, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS blurs the lines of reality and fiction, art as life and vice-versa. The main character, a screenwriter suffering a creative block embarks on a dangerous journey into the mind of psychotic killers to research ideas, unaware that he’s living his next film.
10. SKYFALL
It turns out that it’s always possible to reinvigorate a movie series, even after fifty years and twenty-three installments. Sam Mendes, seemingly the most ill-fitting director for the job, ended up making the newest James Bond the best in years, even decades. With a smart script, terrific cast, and astonishing cinematography from Roger Deakins, SKYFALL mixes the best of traditional Bond elements with a fresh sensibility to make a great statement on what James Bond is, and what he could be moving forward.
9. PARANORMAN
PARANORMAN paid homage to some of the best known horror movies. The creative filmmakers behind the lovable CORALINE brought audiences their second stop-motion animated feature. Nominated for 8 Annie Awards, all the films’ tiny food, sets and characters were given great care down to the minutest detail. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, PARANORMAN is the story of an outcast boy who can see dead people and talk to zombies – all the while being bullied by the kids at school. We loved that Norman found a loyal pal in the energetic Neil. The movie grabbed us emotionally and we cheered Norman on as he became the hero of the town. A pleasant mix of scares for both the kiddos and their parents, PARANORMAN easily found a place in our hearts and on WAMG’s best of the year list.
8. MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
2012’s biggest box office earner may also be the most fun popcorn flick of the year. After laying the ground work for this team-up flick since IRON MAN in 2008, Marvel Studios did the unexpected. They handed the reins of this new potential franchise (combining four film franchises) over to relative movie director newcomer and TV wunderkind (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) Joss Whedon (who also had a hand in this year’s delightful fright flick CABIN IN THE WOODS). And did he deliver! Of course there are the big action set pieces (like in the classic comics, the Marvel Superheroes battle when they first meet), but the biggest surprise may be the witty, multi-layered screenplay. Unlike many films that feature a large core cast (X-MEN, STAR TREK), each character truly got a chance to shine, even screen newbie Hawkeye. Perhaps Joss’s biggest coup was finally turning the Hulk into a real movie star after two solo features. Let’s hope we hear the rallying cry of “Avengers Assemble” again at the multiplexes very soon!
7. LIFE OF PI
Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, Ang Lee’s fantastic adventure film centers on a young Indian boy named Pi, who survives a disaster at sea and has to fight for survival aboard a lifeboat for weeks on end with another survivor – a Bengal tiger. This is not the story of a boy and his tiger becoming buddies. This is about a boy fighting to stay alive without starving, becoming dehydrated, and most importantly – being EATEN BY A TIGER. Ultimately, LIFE OF PI also the story of a boy finding faith in God. It is a rousing adventure film with breathtaking visuals and spectacular 3D imagery.
6. ZERO DARK THIRTY
ZERO DARK THIRTY tackles one of the biggest man-hunts in history as its subject… The search for Osama bin Laden. The film follows the search following the unspeakable events of September 11th, 2001 and gives Americans a glimpse into how Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 ultimately found, and killed the most wanted man in the world. Although graphic at times, the film offers suspense, intensity, and fantastic writing. It’s a must see for 2012.
5. DJANGO UNCHAINED
Quentin Tarantino often talks of quitting as a filmmaker, but when he continues to turn out work as vital and alive as DJANGO UNCHAINED, I hope that remains the idle chatter between each recharge of his battery, because his voice is one of the true treasures of modern movies, with this newest, the melding of Blaxploitation and classic Westerns, simply the latest entry in one of the most interesting filmographies today.
4. AMOUR
AMOUR is, as promised by its title, a movie about love. It’s hard to watch, not least because Austrian director Michael Haneke does not intend for the audience to be passive spectators. Rather, he wants us to feel uncomfortable as uninvited guests to the private intimacy shared by long-married couple Georges and Anne. Before we have a chance to feel familiar with them, Anne suffers a stroke that begins the unraveling of her mortal coil. Haneke shows her and Georges’ loss of dignity with dignity. This movie is not an auteur’s opinion of love; it is the offering of an artist who asks us to contemplate what love means to us so that our lives may be enriched.
3. LOOPER
LOOPER is an entertaining science fiction thriller that neatly blurs the line between suicide and murder, it’s a narrowly conceived yarn about victims sent back in time to be bumped off by assassins called loopers. Rian Johnson, in his third feature, keeps the action going while trying to maintain interest in the long arc of a story about Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a man assigned to kill his 30-years-older self (Bruce Willis). LOOPER is mostly set in a seedy metropolis that doesn’t look all that different from sketchy neighborhoods in some big cities today; there are derelicts, bombed-out buildings, ruined cars and enough other signs of urban ills to suggest that, in Johnson’s view, things will just gradually decline over the next three decades. There really is no sense in the time-travel in LOOPER, but no less sense than in any other film in this genre. Johnson makes up for it with narrative force, mesmeric fascination and a sense of a profound taboo being broken.
2. LINCOLN
LINCOLN is a stupendous film. It will later be considered an important film in Spielberg’s career. As a film about a beloved president, it is subtle and power. After reading many books on Lincoln, including ‘Team of Rivals, which this film is partially based on, I think that there has never been a more authentic and realistic portrayal of the president seen in a motion picture. Steven Spielberg’s direction is first-rate and very restrained here. I love his skill with the camera and cinematic visuals, but here he allows the history to shine through! The screenplay stays true and authentic to the period—the 1860’s. I didn’t catch any dialogue that seemed wrong…or a piece of set design, which was glaringly unreal. Historically, nothing egregious appeared in the film that took me out of the story. Daniel Day Lewis is almost supernatural in his ability to transform into a character. He brings the word ‘Art’ into the realm of acting once again, which is cool in a world in which ‘Stars’ without talent who denigrate the craft. As for the subject of the film: Lincoln was a genius, in my opinion, able to show great compassion, but also leadership powers akin to a tightrope walker, able to contain a ‘Team of Rivals’ within his own cabinet; he was very rational, able to tell a witty story one minute and give a beautifully written speech the next. On all these levels, Daniel Day Lewis is able to bring out the most accurate Lincoln I have ever seen. And, from what I’ve read, the voice Daniel came up with for Abe is spot-on and as accurate as it is possible to be. Whether it was Daniel’s role in the brilliant, ‘There Will Be Blood’ or his early performance in ‘A Room With a View,’ this is one hell of an excellent actor. It isn’t just the performance of Abe, either. All the actors, including Sally Field as Mary Lincoln, are perfect. As far as history goes, no piece of dialogue, no part of a set, no performance seemed to betray the 21st Century. This film is almost a time capsule of one of the most glorious, terrible and revolutionary times (The Civil War and the final eradication of slavery) in our country. As a motion picture, I cannot think of a more worthy film deserving of the ‘Best Picture.’ It is super that there are films out there that break the limits of censorship, that entertain us with often-entertaining, weird and offensive subject matter, BUT I also demand that there be ART in motion pictures. I want to know that my interest isn’t just made up of bilious, though fun, garbage. It is wonderful that a serious movie was made so skillfully about a man and subject so important, poignant, brave and vital.
And our number one film of the year…
1. ARGO
ARGOtells the recently-declassified true story of a CIA agent named Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) who concocted and led a scheme involving a fake movie production to get six U.S. embassy workers out of Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the resulting hostage crisis. Mendez is brought on as an advisor and when he learns how bad the CIA’s plan is to extract them, he comes up with an outlandish plan: pass the workers off as members of a Canadian film crew on a location scout for a sci-fi Star Wars ripoff called Argo. Look for solid, funny performances by Alan Arkin and John Goodman. Also directed by Affleck, ARGO is intense with it’s nailbiting ending and hilarious as it pokes fun at Hollywood.
The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 40th Annual Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. The Annie Awards cover 30 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Special Production, Commercials, Short Subjects and Outstanding Individual Achievements.
The slate of nominations for Best Animated Features this year includes: Brave (Pixar Animation Studios), Frankenweenie (The Walt Disney Studio), Hotel Transylvania (Sony Animation Studios), ParaNorman (Focus Features), Rise of the Guardians (DreamWorks Animation), The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Aardman Animations), The Rabbi’s Cat (GKIDS), and Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney Animation Studios).
“I am very exited about this year’s slate of nominees!” remarked ASIFA-Hollywood president, Frank Gladstone. “We had more submissions to choose from this year than for any prior year in Annie Award history, running the gamut from big studio features to indie films, television series to internet shows, games, shorts and, for the first time, student films, all showcasing the huge variety of venues, creativity, technical innovation, and story-telling that our art form has to offer.” Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature for four decades.
Winners will be announced at the 40th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA.
Juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation will also be awarded. Three Winsor McCay recipients have been selected by the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors – Oscar Grillo, Terry Gilliamand Mark Henn for their career contributions to the art of animation; June Foray Award – Howard Green for his significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; and Ub Iwerks – Toon Boom Animation/Toon Boom Animation Pipeline for technical advancements that make a significant impact on the art or industry of animation.
From the makers of Coraline comes the story of Norman, a boy who must use his gift of seeing and speaking with the dead to save his town from a centuries-old curse about to come true. Caught in a wild race against time, the young ghoul whisperer will find his paranormal abilities pushed to their otherworldly limits as he bravely summons up all that makes a hero – courage and compassion. Focus Features’ frightfully funny and magically emotional ParaNorman will be available on 3D Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and Digital Download on November 27, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, just in time for the holidays!
Featuring the voice talents of Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), Tucker Albrizzi (Good Luck Charlie), Anna Kendrick (The Twilight Saga), Casey Affleck (Tower Heist,), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (How to Train Your Dragon), Leslie Mann (Knocked Up), Jeff Garlin (WALL-E), Elaine Stritch (30 Rock), Bernard Hill (Titanic), Jodelle Ferland (Silent Hill), Tempestt Bledsoe (Guys with Kids), Alex Borstein (Family Guy), and John Goodman (Monsters, Inc.), it’s a hilariously spooky adventure for the whole family in eye-popping 3D, made by LAIKA in stop-motion animation. ParaNorman is “an animated thrill ride of epic proportions” – Rachel Brodsky, Time Out New York Kids.
The ParaNorman 3D Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and Blu-ray™ Combo Pack includes a Blu-ray™, DVD and a Digital Copy of the film compatible with iPhone®, iTunes®, iPad®, iPod®, iPod® touch, Android™ and online retail partners, as well as UltraViolet™. UltraViolet™ is the revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows in the cloud to instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers, and TVs. Consumers can now truly enjoy ParaNorman anytime, anywhere on the platform of their choice.
BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™ and DVD):
PRELIMINARY ANIMATIC SEQUENCES: With commentary from Director Sam Fell and Writer/Director Chris Butler.
PEERING THROUGH THE VEIL: A special behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of the weird and wonderful world of ParaNorman from building the characters to voicing them.
FEATURETTES: Seven short segments showcasing Norman and his extraordinarily unusual co-stars.
FEATURE COMMENTARY: With Director Sam Fell and Writer/Director Chris Butler.
EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK: Unleash the power of your HDTV with perfect hi-def picture and perfect hi-def sound.
UltraViolet™: The revolutionary new way for consumers to collect movies and TV shows, store them in the cloud, and instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TV’s. Consumers can now truly enjoy their movies and TV shows anytime, anywhere on the platform of their choice. Currently available in the United States only.
Digital Copy: Viewers can redeem a digital version of the full-length movie from a choice of retail partners to watch on an array of electronic and portable devices including computers, iPad®, iPhone®, iPod™ touch, Android™ and more!
BD-LIVETM : Access the BD-Live™ Center through your Internet-connected player to watch the latest trailers and more!
pocket BLUTMapp: The groundbreaking pocket BLU™ app uses iPad®,iPhone®, iPod® touch, Android™, PC and Mac® to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray™ player. Plus iPad® and Android™ tablet owners can enjoy a new, enhanced edition of pocket BLU™ made especially to take advantage of the tablets’ larger screen and high resolution display. Consumers will be able to browse through a library of Blu-ray™ content and watch entertaining extras on-the-go in a way that’s bigger and better than ever before. pocket BLU™ offers advanced features such as:
Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.
Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the film.
Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there is a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU™-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray™ Hi-Def. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
Keyboard: Entering data is fast and easy with your device’s intuitive keyboard.
uHEAR™: Never miss another line of dialogue with this innovative feature that instantly skips back a few seconds on your Blu-ray™ disc and turns on the subtitles to highlight what you missed.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – 3D BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK: Street Date: November 27, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Selection Number: 62123587 Running time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes Layers: BD-50 Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Widescreen Rating: PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language.
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/ DTS Surround 2.0, Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish DTS Surround 5.1, French (Canadian) DTS Digital Surround 5.1
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK: Street Date: November 27, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Selection Number: 62123586 Running time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes Layers: BD-50 Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Widescreen Rating: PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language. Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/ DTS Surround 2.0, Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish DTS Digital Surround 5.1, French (Canadian) DTS Digital Surround 5.1
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – DVD: Street Date: November 27, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Selection Number: 62119753 Running time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes Layers: Dual Layer Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Rating: PG for scary action and images, thematic elements, some rude humor and language. Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French (Canadian) Dolby Digital 5.1
Last week WAMG attended the PARANORMAN press day at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. While there, we got the chance to sit down with Anna Kendrick (voice of Courtney), Sam Fell (Director), Chris Butler (Director; Screenwriter) and Travis Knight (Producer; Lead Animator) in round-tables. For your listening pleasure, the audio is below.
ParaNorman is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, whose locals profit from mining the town’s history as the site, 300 years ago, of a famous witch hunt. 11-year-old Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee of Let Me In and The Road) spends much of his days appreciating the finer points of scary movies and studying ghost lore. In fact, Norman is gifted with the ability to see and speak with the dead, such as his beloved grandmother (Elaine Stritch). Most days, he prefers their company to that of his flustered father (Jeff Garlin), spacey mother (Leslie Mann), and deeply superficial older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick).
At middle school, Norman dodges bullying Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), confides in the impressionable Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), and tries to tune out his blowhard teacher Mrs. Henscher (Alex Borstein). Norman is unexpectedly contacted by his odd uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman), who floors him with the revelation that a centuries-old witch’s curse is real and is about to come true, and that only Norman will be able to stop it from going into overdrive and harming the townspeople. Once a septet of zombies – led by The Judge (Bernard Hill) – suddenly rises from their graves, Norman finds himself caught in a wild race against time alongside Courtney, Alvin, Neil, and Neil’s musclebound older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) as Sheriff Hooper (Tempestt Bledsoe) chases them all. Worse, the town is up in arms and taking up arms. Norman bravely summons up all that makes a hero – courage and compassion – as he finds his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.
ANNA KENDRICK (Courtney)
TRAVIS KNIGHT (Producer; Lead Animator)
SAM FELL (Director), CHRIS BUTLER (Director; Screenwriter)
The new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA, reteams the company with Focus Features after the groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated “Coraline.” “ParaNorman” is, following “Coraline,” the company’s second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D. In “ParaNorman,” a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.
Directors: Sam Fell (“The Tale of Despereaux,” “Flushed Away”) and Chris Butler
Writer: Chris Butler
Voice Cast: Casey Affleck, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, Jodelle Ferland, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Elaine Stritch
When a small town comes under siege by zombies, who can it call? “Norman!”
From Focus Features and LAIKA, the companies behind the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline, comes the comedy thriller PARANORMAN. Following Coraline, PARANORMAN is the second stop-motion animated feature to be made at LAIKA in 3D, unifying the two stunning art forms to tell an all-new frightfully funny, magically emotional, and hilariously spooky story.
Focus Features and WAMG invite you to enter for your chance to win passes to the advance screening of PARANORMAN in St. Louis on August 16th at 7pm.
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. FILL OUT YOUR NAME AND E-MAIL ADDRESS BELOW. REAL FIRST NAME REQUIRED.
3. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: You travel to Tinsel town – Hollywood – and you notice it’s full of the walking dead! What famous star do you hope to see as… A ZOMBIE!! and why.
WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN THROUGH A RANDOM DRAWING OF QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. PASSES WILL NOT BE SUBSTITUTED OR EXCHANGED. DUPLICATE TICKETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
The film is rated PG.
PARANORMAN is set in the town of Blithe Hollow, whose locals profit from mining the town’s history as the site, 300 years ago, of a famous witch hunt. 11-year-old Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee of Let Me In and The Road) spends much of his days appreciating the finer points of scary movies and studying ghost lore. In fact, Norman is gifted with the ability to see and speak with the dead, such as his beloved grandmother (Elaine Stritch). Most days, he prefers their company to that of his flustered father (Jeff Garlin), spacey mother (Leslie Mann), and deeply superficial older sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick). At middle school, Norman dodges bullying Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), confides in the impressionable Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), and tries to tune out his blowhard teacher Mrs. Henscher (Alex Borstein).
Norman is unexpectedly contacted by his odd uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman), who floors him with the revelation that a centuries-old witch’s curse is real and is about to come true, and that only Norman will be able to stop it from going into overdrive and harming the townspeople. Once a septet of zombies – led by The Judge (Bernard Hill) – suddenly rises from their graves, Norman finds himself caught in a wild race against time alongside Courtney, Alvin, Neil, and Neil’s musclebound older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) as Sheriff Hooper (Tempestt Bledsoe) chases them all. Worse, the town is up in arms and taking up arms. Norman bravely summons up all that makes a hero – courage and compassion – as he finds his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.
A Focus Features presentation of a LAIKA production. ParaNorman. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, and John Goodman. Costume Design, Deborah Cook. Music by Jon Brion. Edited by Christopher Murrie, ACE. Production Designer, Nelson Lowry. Director of Photography, Tristan Oliver. Produced by Arianne Sutner, Travis Knight. Written by Chris Butler. Directed by Sam Fell, Chris Butler. A Focus Features Release.
PARANORMAN opens in 2D and 3D theaters everywhere on Friday, August 17, 2012!
